Strawberry, Apricot & Coconut Scones | Secret Recipe Club

It is hard to believe it has been just a week.  A week since our little Max went to heaven. Max came into our home when he was just 8 weeks old and was a bundle of joy.  Max was our furry four legged child.  He battled cancer for the last couple months of his life and on Sunday last week, he went to the great dog park in the sky.  It had to be one of the most difficult days for hubby and me.  The next day was especially challenging since the house seemed so big and empty without our little guy.  Since then, time is beginning to make things a bit easier. The tears have lessened. I can talk about and think about him, without getting so emotional.  I will have always have a special place in my heart for Max. They say time heals and I believe it does.

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We adore dogs and will begin exploring and researching our next fur babies soon.  Our new normal is becoming reality and look forward to the day we have one or two little guys running around again.  They will never be Max, but we will bestow the same amount of love on the new doggies and love them forever, like we do Max. 

Today in the Bay Area, we have some warm humid air, which is quite abnormal for us.  I wanted to make something happy for this Sunday morning to brighten our day.  With this month’s Secret RecipeClub match, I had the honor of being paired with Sara from Cook with Sara.  After browsing through her extensive collection of recipes, I landed on her Strawberry Almond Scones.

Sara is a Midwest girl who adores cooking and eating.  She is my kind of friend. I can only imagine that her house always smells divine and she is probably the favorite house in the neighborhood.   Her mom was her inspiration for her old and new recipes that she always tests prior to posting on her blog.  Sara creates tasty treats and has a wide variety of recipes on her site.

After making my selection – by the way, Sara made it very challenging to choose from, I knew I had to put my own twist on the recipe.  I had some beautiful apricots lying around and felt they would pair perfectly with the strawberries that are so luscious at this time of year.  Our lemon tree is exploding, so the zest of a lemon added that something special to the scone.  I did not have sliced almonds, so I went for some rough chopped marcona almonds and toasted up some coconut to flatter the flavor profile.  All in all, hubby adored the scones and had a second one in the afternoon.  This was a winning recipe and will be made again soon. 

Strawberry, Apricot & Coconut Scones

3 cups flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
½  tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ cup butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1 ¼  cup buttermilk
¾ cups strawberries, small dice

¾ cups apricots, small dice

zest of one lemon
2 Tbsp. turbinado sugar
2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
½ cup marcona almonds, rough chop

½ cup Shredded Coconut, toasted

In a large bowl or food processor, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest and salt. Mix until combined.
Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand. If you are not using a food processor, use a pastry blender or your fingers to crumble the butter.

Add the buttermilk and the strawberries and apricots, mixing until well combined.

Gently scoop out the dough onto the parchment-lined or non-stick baking sheets and slightly flatten each with your fingers until it forms a large circle.  Cut into eight pieces like a pie.  Gently lift and separate to have about an inch in between each one. Lightly sprinkle each scone with the turbinado sugar. Bake the scones at 400 until lightly golden around the edges, about 30-35 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes before glazing. 

For the glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Once slightly cooled, carefully drizzle the glaze over the scones (I found it helpful to put the cooling rack that the scones were on directly over my rimmed baking sheet while glazing-super easy clean-up!). Top each scone with a small handful of marcona almonds and toasted coconut.  I added a bit more glaze on top.

   

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